Dozens of Evansville residents turned out Tuesday evening to learn more about plans for the Lloyd Expressway. WNIN’s John Gibson was there:
The plan calls for less access and more stoplights along the Lloyd.
Project spokeswoman Mindy Peterson admits that may sound counterintuitive, but she says the addition of left turn signals away from major intersections will improve traffic flow:
"Those are signals that are going to be synchronized with one another. And you're going to be talking about at the main intersections, the left turn moving with that through traffic on the Lloyd in both directions and there are no conflict points at that point."
Mary Anderson of Evansville told WNIN she got some clarity at the meeting:
"I feel a little better after seeing some of the plans more in detail and talking to the project people, especially about the alternative intersections, that makes more sense to me now."
Another Evansville resident, Lori VanHook, said she’s concerned about safety:
"We need to make sure that we're connecting to our neighborhoods, and not taking away some of the active transportation ways, like some of the crosswalks. They talked about safety and accessibility and mobility, so I'm really interested in all of that not just for cars"
The plan calls for eliminating the stoplight at the Lloyd and Vann, limiting access at Vann right turns only.
One resident who didn’t want to be identified said the project – with no new interchanges -- is another example of the state of Indiana short-changing the Evansville area.